A needs assessment recently carried out by the UNESCO Amman office, in coordination with the Ministry of Culture, provided insight into how to strengthen the state of archive preservation in Jordan. Currently, the documentary heritage preservation efforts under way in Jordan are somewhat scattered and a streamlined coordination mechanism is required. Some of the material found in Jordan is in danger of being damaged or destroyed if action is not taken to digitise, restore and preserve some of the collections.

Stemming from this needs assessment, it was also recommended that the “Memory of the World” programme be initiated in Jordan for the first time and UNESCO has been working closely with the Ministry of Culture to explore this opportunity. The Memory of the World Committee is an international initiative launched by UNESCO to facilitate the preservation of documentary heritage and encourage the access to documentary sources around the world, increasing awareness of the importance of this vital type of heritage.

UNESCO has engaged a specialist in audiovisual work, film and sound archiving, who has facilitated two workshops focused on audiovisual archiving. UNESCO’s work is timely and coincides nicely with Jordan’s newly introduced “Documents Law” which represents a positive legal protection step, offering “legal backing” to preservation efforts. The archive preservation efforts initiated by the UNESCO Amman office are aligned with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.